Current reclining chair designs often do not effectively match movement of a user with movement of the chair parts. For example, some chairs feature a reclining seat back coupled with a stationary seat, which does not permit the user's spine to conform to a natural position when reclining. As another example, in a reclining office chair governed by a typical four bar linkage, the seat back and the seat often apply a shear force to the user because the lower body undergoes translation in a direction with respect to the upper body which does not conform to a natural translation during reclination. This shear force may often be sufficient to cause the user's shirt to become untucked, for example.
In addition, most reclining office chairs include a pre-load component used to create resistance as the user reclines the seat back. Such pre-load components often serve as a hindrance to the easy adjustment of the resistance device, often because the force necessary to adjust the resistance is high due to the preload or requires large displacement (e.g. in the form of many turns of a knob). Those without a high level of manual dexterity or strength may find difficulty in adjusting the resistance on such high pre-load chairs.